


The Best Kept Secret

by ninjamonkey73



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22352833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjamonkey73/pseuds/ninjamonkey73
Summary: Kathryn's one stipulation had been the secrecy.
Relationships: Janeway/Chakotay
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	The Best Kept Secret

1653 hours. Only seven more minutes on shift. Captain Kathryn Janeway shifted uneasily in the command chair. Surely she could manage only seven- amendment, six- more minutes on the bridge. She fought the urge to make a break for her ready room and took a deep breath, smiling slightly to herself. She could feel his eyes on her and took pleasure in the fact that she was successfully fighting the urge to return his gaze. Their little game had gone on for almost eight months now. Chakotay would probably never be as good at it as her, but then she imagined he didn't care. He was getting what he wanted regardless of what "parameters" surrounded it.

At t-3 minutes and counting, the center console beeped softly. Janeway called up the incoming message. ~Attitude adjustment controls will be tested today at 1800 hours with your approval, Captain.~

Nodding thoughtfully, she keyed in, ~Keep me apprised of the situation.~ Their code system was nearly perfect. Tuvok might notice the occasional Commander to Captain messages and vice versa, but the true content would hopefully remain a mystery to him.

Tuvok's ever-diligent first officer and captain put a good deal of effort into testing the ship's systems lately. Tonight's test of the steering system was just one more reason for him to be pleased (if ever a Vulcan can be described as being pleased) that Voyager's command team functioned in such an efficient and undistracted fashion. They took their charge of overseeing the smooth running of the ship very seriously; last night had been a test of the holodeck safeties and the night before had been the warp core coolant system. They were always testing one system or another. The Vulcan didn't suspect a thing.

`Attitude adjustment' had nothing to do with the port and starboard thrusters; it meant dinner, alone. `With your approval' signified she was to meet him in his quarters. The system was brilliant. Nobody was the wiser. The theory was nothing to feed the rumors and *no* public displays whatsoever. Over the last couple of months they had even begun to try to get the other to crack in public, casually bringing up cryptic private jokes on the bridge, locking eyes when no one was looking, making suggestive remarks in the Ready Room before one had to exit to the bridge. Perhaps an occasional incident to feed the rumors, but nothing to confirm them. Both Janeway and Chakotay were well aware of the rumors about them, as well as the betting pool (which had tripled since their time alone on New Earth). Since the rumors had begun long before New Earth, both had learned to passively coexist with the murmur about them.

Kathryn's one stipulation had been the secrecy. It had become quite elaborate over the months since their agreement. Chakotay's one requirement was that there would be no hiding from each other. Honesty must be maintained no matter what hopes, dreams, and fears each was feeling. Their parameters had served them well thus far; both were happier than Voyager's bleak situation would seem to allow, happier than either had been in years. They had settled into a comfortable, well-defined relationship that worked well for both the ship and them. And anyway, half of the adventure was trying to keep it from their close friends and colleagues.

Janeway eyed the chronometer once more. One minute. Close enough. "Mr. Tuvok, you have the bridge." She walked briskly toward the turbolift without even a glance in Chakotay's direction. Entering the lift, she heard a slight rustle of fabric and turned to find Chakotay leisurely stretching and looking around.

"Since the bridge is yours, I guess I'll go too," Chakotay directed at Tuvok. "Hold the lift, Captain."

Janeway stopped the closing doors and held them open, trying to remember what her normal look for Chakotay was. As their time alone together drew close each day, she found it hard to mask her anticipation. Often unsure of what sort of a face would not attract attention, she fought off the enormous smile that bubbled beneath her calm exterior. Kathryn had begun to wonder if her eyes might tell their secret when the doors finally hissed closed behind Chakotay. Before he could finish calling for their quarters' deck, she was encircling him in her arms, looking at him with smiling eyes that spoke volumes of what `system' she intended to test at 1800 hours.

"Anybody could stop the lift and get on, you know. How would you explain this?" Chakotay motioned toward her arms around him with a twist of his head. He smiled and laughed softly. "Before long, it won't matter how intricately we plan it out. We're not as careful as we used to be."

Kathryn brushed a quick kiss across his lips and stepped back two steps, breaking their contact. "You mean, *I'm* not as careful as I used to be. You were never that subtle. Staring at me on the bridge today... Tom will put it all together soon enough." The lift stopped and the doors parted onto their corridor.

The two avoided eye contact in the short distance from the lift to their respective doorways. The hall was presently deserted, but Voyager's design could hide an approaching crew member until he or she was on top of you. Neither spoke until Kathryn reached her door. As she keyed the lock, Chakotay leaned down to her ear, dragging his lips slowly over it, breathing, "One hour."

She collapsed back against the wall, safely sealed within her quarters. Letting out a long, deep breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Kathryn let the shiver Chakotay had started at her ear course down through her. How was it she could sit for hours next to this man? Sheer force of will was all that kept her from simply dragging him into her quarters with her moments before. They would meet soon enough. Until then, there were preparations to be attended to, and one hour in which to complete them. She took another deep breath and put a hand to her flushed cheek. `Focus, Kathryn. No mistakes.'

First, she needed to shower and get out of her unbearable uniform. She realized it had become unbearable somewhere around the time she associated it with the clearest reminder of the one obstacle to her and Chakotay's relationship. On the bright side, wearing it did make it a bit easier to push thoughts of him out of her mind on duty. Pulling a long, flowing blue dress from the closet, she held it in front of herself, looking in the mirror. Three days replicator rations had gone to this dress. Chakotay loved it on her. She had to admit, the color did accent her eyes a great deal, but she imagined it was the low neckline that he most appreciated. Or the essentially bare shoulders.

Showered and changed, she sat at her desk and brushed out her russet tresses. Her hair cascaded over bare skin and framed her face perfectly. With ten minutes to spare for the last of the night's preparations, Kathryn went to her dresser and pulled a PADD and comm badge out from underneath a pile of clothes. Time to begin the checklist. She switched her comm badge for the dummy in the drawer.

"Computer, security bypass, authorization Janeway Omega 7. Reroute communication only for Captain Janeway through badge 595. Do not transfer locator information." Check. Anyone who asked for her location would find she was in her quarters (in a drawer if they asked for specifics, but who ever asked that?). All she would have to do in an emergency is transfer the locator information and no one would know she hadn't been wearing her own comm badge all along.

She took another long look in the mirror. It was not an outfit she relished the crew seeing her in. Dragging a small satchel out of her closet, she put a fresh uniform in it. After a moment's thought, she added a nightgown, her robe, and slippers. Just in case it was a late night.

Their alibi. "Computer, run a level one diagnostic of the attitude adjustment controls and send the results to Commander Chakotay's personal terminal." Check. She had to admit, the ship ran smoother and with less unexpected difficulties this way. They checked every system in a rotation. In the beginning, it had been once a week that they met up on the sly. Casual plans in Sandrine's with everyone else soon became harder to act nonchallant through, however, so they began to meet more frequently in solitude. The testing became more and more frequent. The last two weeks, they had tested a system every single night. In retrospect, Kathryn realized their absence from Sandrine's over the last few days was probably more telling than any clandestine rendez-vous. Keeping to themselves was just as obvious a sign that they couldn't be around each other casually as attempting it and acting awkward would be. She made a note that they should join the others, `Just not tonight,' she thought, smiling to herself.

"Computer, is anyone in the corridor in sector 73?" She stood at her door, satchel in hand, awaiting the go-ahead to slip down to his quarters.

"Negative." Taking a deep breath, Kathryn slunk out into the hallway and moved quickly down to her first officer's quarters.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Chakotay had little to do to fill his long hour of waiting for their dinner. Quickly showering and slipping into a comfortable, deep brown silk tunic and pants, he sat for a moment contemplating what they would eat. Deciding on asparagus quiche and a tossed salad, he set the table and checked his replicator rations. Dinner would leave him barely enough for the bottle of zinfandel he had his heart set on. She would have to treat next time, he thought.

Chakotay still found it hard to believe that things had gone on like this between them for so long. When Voyager had called them out of their near-idyllic existance, he had truly believed that part of their relationship was over. As they silently packed up their belongings on the planet, he knew she was wrestling with how to go back like nothing had changed. When she suggested their present arrangement, he had been shocked. She didn't want to lose what they had gained, couldn't pretend it hadn't happened. `And here we are, eight months later, still sneaking around like a couple of star-crossed cadets,' he mused. Star-crossed-- that was funny! If it hadn't been for the Badlands, the array, the many dangers of unknown space, they never would have even found each other. `As the saying goes: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.'

Chakotay laughed out loud at the image of Kathryn in his bed on New Earth that last day before Voyager came back for them. That was the first time that phrase had come to him. He had told her then, both laughing about how useful it was to keep such close contact with one's enemy. She had confessed her love for him then, smiling that alluring smile of hers that cut straight through to the heart of him. Never had she considered him her enemy, she told him. She knew she could trust him from the first moment she had locked eyes with him on the viewscreen. He confessed he had not been so quick to trust, but his heart was soon captured none-the-less.

Eight months. She still insisted on keeping up the charade. She was relaxing a bit, but not quite enough for Chakotay's liking just yet. He wanted sometimes to make a ship-wide announcement of his love for her. Or to one day just move into her quarters for good, no more sneaking back to his own in the wee hours just before their duty shift. Their rendez-vous' had become so frequent lately, he guessed it wouldn't be long before he could convince her it would just be easier to stop covering their tracks and see what happened.

The chime to his quarters sounded and he jumped. Quickly scanning the table setting, with fresh flowers from the hydroponics bay and two glowing candles in ornately carved holders he had made himself, he nodded, smoothing out his outfit and running his hands lightly over his hair. Everything was ready. "Come." She took his breath away. That dress!

She knew what it did to him. The doors had barely begun to close when she tossed her bag onto a chair and pulled his lips to hers. Slow, passionate, a long day's desire, their kiss was everything she had spent her last hour on duty dreaming of.

Chakotay leaned back and lightly brushed her hair back from her face with his fingertips, grinning at the color that had risen there. "What's in the bag?"

"A uniform just in case. Oh, and a surprise for later, if you're good." Kathryn turned to the table and lifted the lid of the largest plate. "Hmm... smells delicious. And wine? You must be entirely out of rations for all this."

"Let's just say, if you want a cup of coffee, it's your treat. I don't even have enough left for that! But, you're well worth it, my love." He stepped toward the chair where her bag had come to rest. "What sort of a surprise have you got in mind?"

Kathryn came between him and the chair, sliding her arms around his waist. "You'll see." She kissed him tenderly and sighed happily. "I was thinking perhaps about not returning to my own quarters tonight, if that's okay with you."

Chakotay closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, savoring the feeling her words had prompted in him. Opening his eyes and locking hers, he whispered, "You mean you'll stay the whole night?"

Kathryn nodded slowly, winked at him, and whispered, "Why are we whispering?"

"I was afraid if I said it too loud, you'd realize what you just said. I thought it was too much of a risk."

"So, we met for an early breakfast meeting if anyone asks... Nobody ever does. Not even Tuvok ever questions the little things we let slip. I've begun to think they wouldn't even notice if I goosed you on the bridge, Commander." She laughed at the image conjured in her mind and sat herself down on Chakotay's couch, motioning for him to join her.

Chakotay shook off his own little bridge scene and laughed. "Oh, no. Tom Paris would notice. And once the rations all changed accounts, the whole ship would know." Leaning back on the arm of the couch, he took her into his arms and they sat in comfortable silence for a moment. "Not that it would be a bad thing if they did know..."

She squeezed his arms and sighed softly. "Perhaps not.... Chakotay...."

"Yes, love?"

"I was thinking..." She shifted in his arms and turned to meet his questioning eyes. "They are bound to suspect if we keep to ourselves like we have been. Maybe tomorrow night we could go to Sandrine's and not try so hard to avoid each other. I'm reluctant to share you, but I think it might be time. We'll see what an undisturbed night's sleep in each other's arms does."

"Aye, aye, Captain! But first, I think we'll need to fortify ourselves with a little dinner." Chakotay's heart was full. Full of one woman. The only woman he could ever want. His soulmate, Captain Kathryn Janeway.

She had found peace in this man's strong embrace. She had found solace in the depth of his eyes. She had even found the strength to face her crew and admit her need for him in his unwavering patience. He was her salvation, her very own spirit guide, counselor, best friend, lover. Together they were greater than either would ever be apart, and that was Voyager's best kept secret.


End file.
